The Spaniard darted down the left flank before cutting inside Steven Reid and falling to the floor. Mikel Arteta converted the resultant spot-kick to break the deadlock in Arsenal’s favour.

Replays have since shown that Reid did not make contact with Cazorla and Wenger has apologised "if it was not a penalty".

"I am sorry if it was not a penalty," Wenger told reporters. "I have spoken to Santi and he said he has been touched and lost his balance. Maybe he made more of it, I don't know.

"It's a difficult decision, it can go against you, it went for us today. That's what it is. What I mean is, when he [a player] is touched, he goes down, the referee can give or not give the penalty. Of course [I will speak to Santi if he has not been touched]. I will look at it, don't worry."

Two penalty kicks converted by Arteta proved to be the difference between Arsenal and their visiting counterparts, but Wenger was confident that his side deserved the victory due to their dominance in attack.

"We were a bit lucky maybe on the first penalty because he could have given it or not given it," Wenger added. "For the rest we created many chances, kept a clean sheet and have shown a great spirit, which many people questioned after our last game. That's all we could do, we did our job very well.

"I feel overall we played well. They tried to stop us playing, they are physically strong and they played deep.

"Their keeper started very early in the game to gain time, and we were a bit nervous. I think that showed in the way we took our chances. But you could feel that we were ready for a fight and we knew we absolutely had to win this game.

"We did it and somewhere, with top-level sportsmen, when you have to win, you win. To deal with the nerves and be serious and resolute, that is what we have shown today."

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